Today, we had to pick up a book we needed from Borders on Michigan Avenue.
We haven’t been in a Borders in a while, not since the incident here in Boystown where we tried to find Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, at the Borders on Broadway and Diversey when it came out, but the store employees had hidden it. We’re still not clear how they got away with that, for about three days, before someone finally made them put up the required displays, but the Dr. Utopia pushing in Borders around Chicago has always been so heavy-handed that we much prefer getting books off Amazon or ABEbooks.com (which is really, really good for dirt cheap textbooks…which, in the political sciences, are good to read even if you aren’t currently in school).
Well, our friend Panda really, really, desperately, his life depending on it, needed a book called “Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter”, in which the young Queen of England becomes not only a monarch and empress at the age of 18, but is also appointed the “one in her generation” to stand guard against the forces of Hell on Earth. It’s essentially Buffy, without the Whedon, and a lot more Prince Albert and giant hoop skirts. It’s so much easier not to ask Panda why he needs these things, but he insists “it will prove something”.
Okay.
Whatev.
In the store, we went up to the remainders table to checkout the bargain calendars, since we always get our calendars in February when they are about $1 or so (scored a great Studs & Spurs cowboys 12-monther, thank you very much…Yee-ha!), and were surprised to see everything Obama-related 75% off. There were many books on Michelle that were cheaper than toilet paper — the single ply, not the tushie pampering good stuff. They had heaps of “Obama paper dolls”, which were intended for children, we guess, or sad gay men who collect Marie Osmond dolls and might need something crappy made of paper to make said collection look cool in comparison. Borders still sells those two “memoirs” William Ayers wrote and tacked Dr. Utopia’s name on for full price, but everything else in the Obamaverse was marked down to less than what it cost to print the stuff up.
Apparently, this is happening all over the country.
The “Obama Store” in Union Station has closed, because no one wants any of this junk anymore.
If an “Obama Store” can’t make it in Washington, D.C., and in Chicago everything related to Dr. Utopia is going for pennies on the dollar, perhaps America has really woken up to the fact that the person in the Oval Office right now, and his “fashion icon” wife, really aren’t the people the media claimed they were…and they were never, in fact, deserving of any of the praise, attention, and mania they were so lavished.
February 4, 2010 at 10:34 pm
This is the best news! What a day brightener. Thank you so much Hillbuzz for the report. I had sunk into despondency for a few minutes as someone over at neoneocon sent me the link to yet another creepy Dr. Utopia stunt:
Apparently he is trying to recruit public highschool students to work for him in some organized fashion that seems completely illegal to me, but hey, it must not be…..
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/atlas-exclusive-obama-organizing-for-communism-and-youth-corps-in-the-public-school-1.html
So, am quite happy that Dr. Utopia propaganda is finding no takers. Hallelujah!
February 5, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I saw this at NQ couple of days ago, and the next morning I called the Stark County Republican Party, told them I was a life-long Democrat(old style, JFK, LBJ, etc)and that this propaganda had no business being in the schools. They said they would look into it at once. When I called the next day to see if they had, I was told it had been dealt with, it was also in the local media and that the teacher had done it without permission and against school policy. Parents all over the country, and in Stark County, were complaining and raising hell about it. I am not a parent, but I don’t want to see my tax money subsidizing propaganda of either party in public schools.
February 4, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Haha!
February 4, 2010 at 10:41 pm
And in the grocery store tonight, someone had put a cookbook right in front of the statck of special edition Sarah Palin magazines that just came out and I made sure that they were appropriately rearranged. ;)
Subversion in the magazine aisle, gotta love it.
On the other hand, there used to be a plethora of Obama related materials there. Not ONE this evening. Just a Business Week that had an article about how Obama has to start over…The times, they are a-chang-in…
February 4, 2010 at 11:20 pm
I haven’t seen that magazine in my local grocery store nor in the pharmacy. I still do not understand the pure hatred for Sarah Palin. It is OK if you do not like someone because of their politics, but they have taken it beyond reason.
Now, it seems like she paid taxes on some property she owns but I guess she did not let them know that she had built a small cabin there so the left is having a field day and calling her a “tax cheat”.
February 5, 2010 at 10:21 am
It’s been my theory, hatched back when there was such hateful talk about George and Laura Bush from the left, that the left truly and simply cannot stand woman who are happy, THINK, DO things that are productive and good and then–on top of all of that–just happen to be pleasant to look at. They just can’t stand it. A couple of times, I have actually tried to doublecheck my thinking to see if I was prejudging lib women so I have said to myself, “Come on, you should be able to find one liberal woman who is happy, productive and good looking.” Not yet. Some of them fix up pretty good to look glamorous–but that all gets spoiled when you look at their eyes and look for genuine happiness. Ain’t happening.
February 5, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Emma, you are so right. In the Liberal world, if you are female or gay or black, you are not allowed to be a Republican. If you do not support the liberal agenda 110%, you are a walking, talking target of incredibly vulgar and squalid vituperation. I still can’t get over how Harry Belafonte had the sheer bloody effrontery to call Colin Powell a “house nigger” because he accepted the post of Secretary of State under W. The left aimed the same hatred and intolerance toward Condi Rice. Instead of being pleased as punch that these two outstanding individuals received such rarified appointments, the left villified them nonstop.
February 6, 2010 at 9:50 am
Vituperation and effrontery are not commonly used words. I’m impressed!
February 4, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I predict Dr Utopia is going to have a public meltdown. He is so thin-skinned and the criticism is going to ramp up against him — he won’t be able to take it.
I was in the DC Union station in November and was surprised that there was sooo much Utopia merchandise in one of the souvenir shops — and it was marked down quite a bit at that time. I read today that another store with exclusive all-things Utopia has closed. . .Maybe they could sell items that represent America, democracy, history (the real stories), flags. . .just sayin!
Utopia’s role in history? He has re-awaken a passive American citizen awareness and candidates for office will be scrutinized above and beyond — even liberals — going forward. If we ever go to ‘sleep’ again, we need to have a mantra to reawaken to the dangers of another Utopia with — “Remember Utopia?”
February 4, 2010 at 11:55 pm
He is not going to have a meltdown; he already did today at the prayer breakfast. Watch the video clip of it on Breitbarttv without the sound. When you don’t hear the nervous laughter of the audience or his voice and words, you see …………
February 5, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Here:
http://tinyurl.com/ycewb9q
Halfway thru-
Good God, “The Lightbringer” is pathetic… he’s disintegrating before the public eye.
February 5, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I saw some of it live and some more on youtube. He is angry; he is sarcastic; he is defensive; and it looks like he’s in the hall of his persecutors. He’s there to tell them not to question him on his faith [or his citizenship ??]. At least twice I noticed that he had his literal tongue in his literal cheek. One time it was when he was talking about disagreement on his policies. Another time it was when he spoke about how he sees some kind of bridge to what? Utopia? And he looks like he’d like to bring in the troops and have them all arrested. It was as creepy as I have ever seen him and I plan not to watch it next year! That’s a promise.
He was about as prayerful as an asp.
February 4, 2010 at 11:04 pm
In my local Target, Going Rogue was NOT on an end cap; someone DIDN’T follow the PlanOGram…and had erroneously placed the 6 book stack on the bottom of a book riser. I placed them where they were intended to be (saving some red shirted employee a chewing out). Patty Melt would have been proud of me…I purchased my copy at Giant Eagle (so I got Fuel Perks :) )
Glad that Dear Leader chatzkes, like his political fates, are on the profound decline. This ‘dissing’ and loss of love and adoration (has anybody randomly fainted in his presence recently?) Does not bode well for a narcissist. Crash will be a severe; public meltdown will be embarassingly ugly. Look for his public forays to be even more structured (TOTUS only).
Bwahahahaha!
February 4, 2010 at 11:11 pm
I have noticed the same trends in the stores I’ve visited. The utopia stuff is going at fire sale prices. They couldn’t give the stuff away. Rush has been relentless in his pursuit of this man’s failuture as a POTUS, and I pray for that failure as well. It does make you want to be a fly on the wall to listen to the ranting. He can’t be happy after all. For all of his life up until this point, he’s not had to earn anything. Why should he when everyone else has been pulling his weight around? The news report today is that the democrats in the senate have been carping at him big time, especially Franken. To pile things on, it turns out that India has said that it can’t trust the UN on GW policy. The rate in which this hoax came to light is just breathtaking. There is more fallout to come such as investigation of Mann’s conduct in all of this. Wait and see!
February 4, 2010 at 11:18 pm
I dunno. I think he’s so isolated in his cloud of entitled narcicissim (sp) that reality hasn’t sunk in yet. Who cares if Union Station doesn’t have his Hopey Changy face on everything anymore? He has those Mao-sized posters of himself all over the White House. Kind of like the ones Saddam Hussein had in all his palaces. At least the The Lightbringer and MEchelle only have one palace to decorate.
February 4, 2010 at 11:19 pm
I am proud to say my area is a trendsetter. When Obama was elected, the New York Times put a special display in my grocery, with “historic” editions in plastic wrapping for sale. I was so PO’d I counted them to see how many there were.
Two weeks later, exactly ONE had been sold. Shortly thereafter, the display disappeared.
I live in Buyer’s district in Indiana, and this made me quite happy with the people in my neighborhood.
Also, I got a great deal of satisfaction with seeing the matted Obama posters marked down to 1.00 on the markdown table along with the dented cans of creamed corn and the torn boxes of Tampax. HA!
February 5, 2010 at 3:48 am
I live in Buyer’s district too! We’re practically neighbors. So sad about his wife. Have you heard anything about candidates for his seat?
February 5, 2010 at 7:01 am
Todd Rokita is running for his seat.
Yay!
Dan Coats is running against Evan Bayh!!!! YIPPEE!!!!
February 5, 2010 at 7:08 am
Good news. I’ve been traveling this week. The last I heard were rumors that Rokita was going to run against Bayh. This is much better. What has Coats been doing since he retired in 1998?
February 5, 2010 at 10:02 pm
LOL!
February 4, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Shocking! The Lightbringer gets straight F’s on his Year 1 report card:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/02/cbs-news-obama-poll-f-for-failure.html
Who’d have thunk it.
February 5, 2010 at 12:35 am
CBS! Amazing!
February 4, 2010 at 11:36 pm
I see at least one bright spot, business opportunity wise, in an otherwise repressed economy: An Anti-Obama Shop. Sell nothing but stuff dissing the Wun – big bucks are mine! Muahahahaha!
February 4, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Oh, there are still plenty of Obamanation stores in DC. I live here. There is one right near the white house. I wanted to take pictures of it, but felt like it wouldn’t go over well.
But DC is a city that loves any democrat no matter what they do. The mayor went to jail for smoking crack and got re-elected.
February 4, 2010 at 11:38 pm
When you wrote, Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter, I thought you were going to write Queen Victoria: Demon…..Sheep.
If nobody is buying Barack Obama junk, maybe they’re just waiting for the stimulus checks they were promised for their vote.
February 4, 2010 at 11:52 pm
I was annoyed when I went to DC for the House Call in November and was looking for souvenirs to take home to my kids…nothing but those little street side kiosks with O crap all over it. My friend who lives there said, there was a short time when it was replaced with Michael Jackson stuff, but at that time it was back to O stuff.
Thankfully, I found the Smithsonian and got a bunch of “Night at the Museum” stuff for the older girls and some neat toy dinosaurs for my son! Score!
February 4, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Do you have Costco in Illinois? In CA, Costco is a warehouse store. I was horrified after the election to see the “paintings” display, with a number of prominent Obama paintings. And the “Yes We Can” scholastic children’s book was for sale in the monthly book order forms that came home from school.
I rejected the merchandise from the outset. Glad to see that my fellow Americans are catching on.
February 5, 2010 at 10:26 am
Have you also noticed the endless pop-up ads on the internet “obama supports lower car insurance” rates, etc? I have taken the time to contact those marketing outfits and ask them–what on earth makes them think that obama’s support of their product would make their product more saleable? That is so “dear leader-ish” it turns my stomach.
February 5, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Emma,
That is so interesting. I have not seen those. And it might be a project for us looking for a way to be useful – contacting those companies en masse. If enough of those companies got complaints/notices like yours, they might count the numbers and stop using him. We might ask if the president has given them permission to use his likeness to sell their product. Hmmmmmm.
February 5, 2010 at 12:23 am
Lotta racists out there, whole lotta racists–ain’t no other reason to reject Obama.
What do you wanna bet that on some lefty blog somewhere some minion has said something exactly like that? That it’s just a sign of the true racist nature of Americans coming out?
February 5, 2010 at 1:51 am
yet in reality, they are the racists because they are the ones always talking about skin tone…. like it really matters!!!
You will hear me ranting about Kevin Rudd, otherwise known as KRUDD and he is white – he just happens to be BLONDE…. ooh can you hear the blonde jokes? ROFL
February 5, 2010 at 1:43 am
eBay Advice Needed
The Barack & Michelle Obama Paper Doll & Cut-out Book
Should I “Buy it Now”, “Bid” on it, or wait for “The Barack & Michelle Obama Paper Doll & Cut-out Book – The Prison Edition” to come out?
http://catalog.ebay.com/Barack-Michelle-Obama-Paper-Doll-Cut-out-Book-John-Boswell-2009-Paperback-/72408438?_fifpts=1&_pcatid=4&_refkw=michelle+obama&_trksid=p3286.c0.m271#{%22Page%22%3A%22%2FBarack-Michelle-Obama-Paper-Doll-Cut-out-Book-John-Boswell-2009-Paperback-%2F72408438%3F_aset%3D2%26_dmpt%3DUS_Childrens_Books%26_fifpts%3D1%26_htch%3D1%26_pcategid%3D279%26_pcatid%3D4%26_rptype%3D4295%26_tab%3D1%23prddesc%22}
February 5, 2010 at 1:51 am
wait for the prison edition :)
February 5, 2010 at 8:41 pm
LOL
February 5, 2010 at 1:58 am
I was at the BX (Base Exchange) here the other day, and on their Bargain Basement shelf were at least twenty portraits of Teh Won — some with him and the White House, some set against Abraham Lincoln (which is a ludicrous comparison), and even a few with his $%&*$!% chin in the air. They weren’t even prominently displayed where they were — they were all just kind of off to the side on a low shelf.
I also saw a book about Utopia at Ross last week. It had been reduced at least twice, it looked like. I think they were asking for a dollar for it. I laughed and let it stay there.
February 5, 2010 at 2:07 am
I am a man of vast appetites, probably the greatest of which is the printed page.
I would defend Borders, at least those I visit in the ‘burbs – specifically Mt. Prospect and Crystal Lake. Conservative, Libertarian and “contrarian” best sellers, at least in these Borders stores, are always available and displayed front and center, conspicuous and discounted.
Not so for the Barnes & Nobles in the same market.
Also, unless things have changed, B & N CHARGED for their discount club, while Borders does not.
February 6, 2010 at 10:27 am
The owners of Books-a-Million try to live their Christain faith by caring about what they sell in their stores and donating their money to many needy causes. You will not find pornographic material laying around the store for children to happen across as happens at B & N. I don’t know their political leanings but from my encounters with them and talking with lots of people who have worked directly for the owners, they are good people.
February 5, 2010 at 3:44 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by KathleenHanover: Hillbuzz: No one is buying Obama junk anymore http://bit.ly/aMZO6e...
February 5, 2010 at 6:04 am
Obama is a fad. Just like those terrible shoes I bought last season that I would not be seen dead in this year. O. V. E. R.
February 5, 2010 at 10:11 pm
LOL! So true!!!!
February 5, 2010 at 9:09 am
The chia pets! What about the Obama chia pets?!
February 5, 2010 at 12:23 pm
And Chia Obama, of all things!
February 5, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Ch…Ch…Ch….Chia!
Obama Head!
February 5, 2010 at 9:34 am
They used to sell Barry and Michelle Antoinette calendars at the mall. A few times, I turned them backward as I passed.
LOL
February 5, 2010 at 10:05 am
Are you trying to tell me all those Obama Commemorative plate (collectors edition, they were a steal at $20 each while supplies last) may not have been such a good investment of my nest egg?
February 5, 2010 at 10:14 am
My only regret is not getting a Chia Obama. I could kick myself.
February 5, 2010 at 10:18 am
[...] boys at HillBuzz tell a similar story about a Borders store in Chicago: [W]e went up to the remainders table to checkout the bargain [...]
February 5, 2010 at 10:29 am
You can tell a lot about past trends and what’s not hot anymore by going to thrift stores and looking through donated inventory. For almost a year, you never saw any Obama tshirts or memorabilia. However, since November, I started to see quote a few Obama campaign tshirts in the racks. What does that tell you?
February 5, 2010 at 8:44 pm
It’s a Historic First!!!!!!!!!
LOL
February 5, 2010 at 10:29 am
A few weeks ago I read that sales of anti-Obama merchandise were on the increase.
February 5, 2010 at 10:38 am
For all those who claim that non-support of Obama must be racist, I tell them that I’ve been trying to vote for a black man for president for years. I would have voted for Alan Keyes. Heck, I would have probably voted for Condie Rice. I don’t want the man because he’s black or because he’s half black, half white. I don’t want him because his beliefs and actions are the antithesis of what I believe and what this country was founded on. No racism involved EXCEPT by those who can’t see past the man’s skin color and laud him and support him for that reason only? In this month celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let’s get back to his idea of a color-blind society. Of course, that won’t happen for the liberals. They’ve ALWAYS got to look at race.
February 5, 2010 at 10:53 am
Hey… There was a story about this in USA Today about a month ago. Basically, the only people buying the Obama shirts are European tourists.
February 5, 2010 at 12:57 pm
The Obama merchandise is not selling due to the product itself-Obama. When people scratched the surface they found no substance underneath. Nothing. Obama has said the same (boring) things, through out the campaign, every speech. He has totally lost the majority of the American people, as if he had them in the first place. One thing at which he was successful-he did awaken the sleeping giant, no more apathetic voters. No way.
February 5, 2010 at 3:32 pm
HB –
The Lakeview Borders hid “Going Rogue”? I got it on release day there and they had a HUGE kiosk of it.
February 5, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Hubby had to dig around for the party animal Globe issue, which had been put behind other stuff. He got one for us and put the rest right in front.
February 6, 2010 at 12:15 am
Went to B and N. Put Sarah’s magazine where it should be: front and center.